As shown in FIG. 1, when connectors are connected to each other, a connector housing 20 for housing a female electric connector or male terminal 21 therein is slantingly disposed, or when the female terminal 21 and a male terminal 23 are respectively slantingly disposed within terminal housing chambers 20a and 22a of connector housings 20 and 22, a tab-shaped end of the male terminal 23 is not inserted into an electric contact portion or receptacle 24 of the female terminal 21 having a rectangular shape in cross section, but contacts an opening end 25 of the electric contact portion 24. Therefore, the male terminal 23 pushes the female terminal 21 out of the terminal housing chamber 20a, and the end of the male terminal 23 is bent. A resilient contact piece 26 is formed by bending a tongue piece projecting towards a bottom plate of the opening end 25 on the internal side of the receptacle 24.
To overcome the problems mentioned above, as shown in FIG. 2, an upper wall 24a of the other portion of the receptacle 24 except for the opening end 25 thereof is expanded on the side of the resilient contact piece 26 so as to perform a preferable electric contact with the male terminal 23. Further, a guide portion 27 is formed in a position near the opening end 25 to smoothly insert the male terminal 23 into the female terminal by inclining the upper wall 24a on the side of the resilient contact piece 26.
By such a structure, the opening end 25 is widened in comparison with the interior of the receptacle 24. Accordingly, even when the connector housing 20 is slightly slanted, or when the female terminal 21 and the male terminals 23 are respectively slightly slanted within the terminal housing chambers 20a and 22a of the connector housings 20 and 22, an end portion of the male terminal 23 is easily inserted into the female terminal from the opening end 25, and is further inserted into the interior of the receptacle 24 by the guide of the guide portion 27, thereby solving the disadvantages mentioned above. The male terminal 23 is reliably supported by the resilient contact piece 26 and the upper wall 24a therebetween, providing a preferable electrical contact.
Conventionally, in order to constitute the receptacle 24, as shown in FIG. 3, an upper face of the upper wall 24a is recessed by press working except for a peripheral portion thereof and a portion on the opening end 25 (see Japanese Laid-Open Utility Models Nos. 58-176379 and 52-155988). Otherwise, as shown in FIG. 4, a slit 28 is formed in a corner portion of the upper wall 24a along the longitudinal direction thereof, and an upper face of the upper wall 24a is similarly recessed by press working (see Japanese Laid-Open Utility Models Nos. 51-94491, 56-28183 and 58-18673).
However, in the former case shown in FIG. 3, the area of a flat portion 24b contacting the male terminal 23 is reduced as the width of the receptacle 24 (the terminal width) is narrow as shown in FIG. 5. Namely, the upper wall 24a is used for the corner portion and is not used for the flat porton 24b. Accordingly, the width A of the receptacle 24 is limited to about 3.0 or 2.8 mm in the structure shown in FIG. 3, and the width B of the receptacle is limited to about 2 mm in the structure shown in FIG. 4 in which the thickness of the plate material is 0.2 to 0.3 mm and the material is made of phosphor bronze, brass, etc., and the flat portion 24b cannot be secured and thereby substantially processed when the width of the receptacle 24 is less than 3.0 mm.
In the latter case shown in FIG. 4, the receptacle can be processed even when the receptacle 24 has a width (e.g., about 2 mm) narrower than that of the former receptacle. However, since the slit 28 is formed, the mechanical strength of the connector is reduced and the receptacle 24 is easily damaged by an external force.